Was Eleanor Rigby real?

That question, which has bedeviled Beatles' fans for decades, may be answered in part by a 1911 hospital payroll sheet to be auctioned in London on Thursday.

The document, sent by Paul McCartney in 1990 to the director of a music charity who had asked for funding, contains the signature of a scullery maid named "E. Rigby" who worked in a Liverpool hospital.

The director of the company auctioning the document believes the woman who signed the payroll is the same Eleanor Rigby buried in 1939 in a Liverpool graveyard next to the church where McCartney met the young John Lennon.

"I've spoken to the person who lived in the house where she used to live, and they've confirmed that the signature is the same signature of the person in the graveyard," said Tom Owen of the Fame Bureau auction house, adding that the finding may contradict McCartney's longtime assertion that the song was based on a made-up character.

"It's intriguing that McCartney owned it because he says he created the song around a fictitious figure," said Owen. "And yet, how did he have this document and why did he have it? When he was asked to donate money, he sent this."

Interest is so high it's estimated the document may fetch $750,000.

McCartney has said the song was not based on a real person but concedes he may have been subconsciously influenced by seeing the tombstone.

When the auction was announced earlier this month, he released a statement reiterating that the character was not real. "If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove that a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me," McCartney said.

The payroll sheet was signed by "E. Rigby" after she collected her pay at Liverpool's City Hospital. McCartney has not revealed how he got the document, or why he sent it to the charity 18 years ago.

The song "Eleanor Rigby," released in 1966 as a single and on the Beatles' "Revolver" album, represented a sharp break for the band, which until then had largely relied on cheerful tunes for their international hits.

With its haunting refrain, "Ah, look at all the lonely people," it is a devastating portrayal of an isolated woman whose death draws so little notice that no one attends her funeral.

"It's a Beatles song with no Beatles instruments," said Glenn Gass, a rock historian who teaches a course on the Beatles at Indiana University.

"It's just so bleak and so sad: she picks up the rice at someone else's wedding, the whole image of her wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door. There are things happening emotionally that you just can't see. It's not a pop song in any traditional sense, but it's one of their great songs."

The song has had so much impact that a statue honoring Eleanor Rigby — be she real or imagined — has been built in downtown Liverpool.

Lyrics of Beatles' hit "Eleanor Rigby"

Here are the lyrics to the Beatles' hit, "Eleanor Rigby," released in 1966 as a single and on the Beatles' "Revolver" album.

Ah, look at all the lonely people

Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been,

Lives in a dream.

Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door

Who is it for?

All the lonely people,

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people,

Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear,

No one comes near.

Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there.

What does he care?

All the lonely people,

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people,

Where do they all belong?

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name,

Nobody came.

Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave,

No one was saved.

All the lonely people,

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people,

Where do they all belong?

Beatles lyrics often based on real people

Many famous Beatles tunes are based on real people and actual events. John Lennon and Paul McCartney frequently turned to their childhood, their family — and even their pets — for inspiration. Here are some examples:

— "A Day in the Life": The first section of this song from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" deals with the demise of Tara Browne, a wealthy young socialite and friend of the Beatles who died in a London car crash in 1966. A later verse comes from a news report.

— "Hey Jude": This best-selling single was written in 1968 by McCartney for Lennon's young son, Julian. It started off as "Hey Jules," but McCartney changed it. Many view the song as an attempt to cheer 5-year-old Julian at the time of his parents' divorce.

— "Dear Prudence": This song from what has come to be known as "The White Album" is about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, who spent a lot of time with the Beatles at a meditation retreat in India run by the last Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles felt she was becoming too isolated and focused on meditation and wanted her to "come out and play."

— "Julia": This acoustic-style love song from "The White Album" is a moving tribute to Lennon's mother, Julia, who died in a car accident when he was a teenager. In his post-Beatles career he sang of his unceasing pain at her loss.

"Doctor Robert": This track from the British version of the album "Revolver" is said by most Beatles scholars to be about a real New York doctor who provided his affluent socialite patients with vitamin injections laced with amphetamines. It was on the "Yesterday and Today" album in the United States.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.